For certain types of pressure sensors (such as piezo-resistive sensors), an input pressure is applied to one side of the sensor, and the sensor outputs an electrical signal based on the input pressure. The electrical signal typically needs to pass through the wall of a pressure vessel that contains the input pressure. To allow this, an electrical conductor is often passed through an opening in a header of the pressure sensor, and the opening is sealed to maintain the pressure in the pressure vessel during use.
In one conventional approach, a glass-to-metal compression seal is used in the header of a pressure sensor to allow the transfer of an electrical signal through the wall of a pressure vessel. However, this approach comes with a pressure limitation, namely that excessive pressure in the pressure vessel can cause the header to expand. For example, many conventional headers are welded along their top and bottom edges to larger sensor bodies. In this arrangement, the sides of a conventional header can deflect outward along the entire height of the header when an excessive input pressure is received at the header. This deflection expands the size of the header. The expansion of the header can reduce or eliminate the compression of the glass-to-metal seal, causing the seal and thus the header to fail. This problem worsens as the header and the pressure vessel become smaller.